Adultery in Islam

The one thing unique about Islam is that even its punishments are harsh and "scary", it is actually very difficult to judge that a person has committed an offence. Like the world always questions Islamic punishment to cut off a wrist off the hand after a person commits theft, but the enactment of the punishment will only happen after the evidence that he steals without any good reason is presented satisfactorily. If the thief is found to be among the poor, or that if the amount stolen is "harmless", if the object stolen is not guarded well, etc. then the cutting hand off could not be conducted.

So, the principle is the judgment that he or she may not be guilty is always stronger than the judgment that he or she is guilty. Whatever doubt that arises in the criminal processes will always triumph over the conviction that the person has committed a crime.

This is the same with proving that someone has committed adultery. The current Malaysian political world has saddened me with the plethora of sex videos that many opposition party leaders have been accused of. Proving adultery is not easy in Islam. There are only two ways in proving adultery: Confession and eyewitness testimony from four reliable sane reasonable men who actually have seen that a penis is entering a vagina. Now I'm not here to talk about adultery, I'd like to talk about the second way to prove adultery through eyewitness testimony.

What does it mean by reliable witnesses? "Reliable" means that the person is known to be trustworthy and not a lying liar. In addition, witnesses should be human, so videos or any related kind should NOT be admissible as evidence. This is the same for DNA testing. If accusation of adultery has been made but confession nor testimony from four reliable sane men cannot be produced, than the person would be committing Qazaf, or untruthful accusation of adultery and this is an actual offence in Islam subject to lashes as the punishment and the person's testimony is never ever admissible anymore in the future.

So, even when we're in a seemingly harmless trivial gossiping session, to say this for fun, "Hey, I think A is sleeping with B..." is NOT permissible is Islam and once you said that and you fail to produce four witnesses, then you're committing qazaf and you should be punished.

You have to be reminded that even if the person DOES commit adultery, as emphasized above, the judgment that he or she may not be guilty is always stronger than the judgment that he or she is guilty.

So, what is Qazaf?

1) When a person or a blogger accuses a leader to commit adultery and claims to have the video.

2) When a person or a blogger accuses a leader to commit adultery and claims to have the video but the video will only be released in stages.

2) When a person or a blogger accuses a leader to commit adultery and claims to have the video but only releases the stills of the video.

3) When a person or a blogger accuses a leader to commit adultery and claims to have the DNA of the adulterer.

4) Pretty much every accusation of adultery that happens in the Malaysian blogosphere right now.

Qazaf is a clear offence in Islam and the punishment is specific and heavy. Unlike adultery and other offences, it's easy to judge a qazaf because it's an easy offence to commit.

Aren't they scared?